At Hurley's restaurant in Portland, Oregon, there's one thing you won't
find on the menu: Pate de Foie Gras. In case you're wondering, that's a sort
of liver puree, usually from ducks or geese. Oh, they've got it. But you'll
have to have a private word with the waiter and you might want to whisper.

Hurley's, like a number of restaurants around the country, has gone into
stealth mode when it comes to this gourmet treat.

The reason: pressure from animal rights groups who say the techniques
used to produce foie gras are a "cruel and unnecessary practice." They're
correct.

Foie gras is created by force-feeding grain to waterfowl in order to
unnaturally enlarge their livers. Afficionados say they're simply taking
advantage of a duck's natural ability to store fat.

Last time I checked, there was no natural tendency on the part of ducks
to shove stainless steel tubes down their throats and pump in huge amounts
of half-cooked corn.

That's how foie gras is made.

Now, I'm not a vegetarian, mind you. It's just that I have this funny
objection to torturing small animals no matter how scrumptious their body
parts might be.

And it's not just ducks and geese, is it? Our food industries are equal
opportunity abusers: cows, chickens, pigs, and a special mention to those

little calves who for their short, miserable lives are locked into crates
too small to allow movement just so we can eat veal.

Our mistreatment of these creatures is no reflection on their intrinsic
worth, but it does reflect the state of our humanity. The picture is, to say
the least, unattractive.

I know we're carnivores. Things die so that we can live. But simple
decency requires that, whenever possible, we minimize the suffering of the
beings under our control.

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